Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has delayed the Tarnol Chowk rally in Islamabad to September 8 because of raised barricades by local administration PTI chief Imran Khan.
The decision was taken after a meeting of the central PTI leaders including Omar Ayub Khan, Azam Swati and Barrister Gohar with Imran Khan in Adaila Jail, Rawalpindi. After that Azam Swati and Barrister Gohar came out of the jail to brief media about the delay and fixing of a new date for the rally.
Subsequently, both Swati and Barrister Gohar said that now the rally will take place on the 8th of September with all the standard precaution needed. He said that PTI’s Islamabad chapter which include Aamir Mughal said that the party will endeavor to obtain the required permissions for holding the event.
PTI also feared that the government might intend to use the rally situation to incite trouble.
At first, PTI had intended to move forward to Tarnol Chowk since the district administration of Islamabad denied the permission of the rally. The chief commissioner then makes a notification of the decision in relation to the recommendation of the District Intelligence Committee.
Among the key issues discussed in a meeting presided over by the chief commissioner and involving Islamabad IGP Ali Nasir Rizvi and the deputy commissioner was the NOC for the rally. Some of the events going on that prompted the IGP to raise security concerns include the presence of the Bangladeshi cricket team in the capital, issues of crowd control among others. Furthermore, a bag which was believed to contain IED was discovered at the rally scene which boosted the security measures.
As the last argument, the administration referred to recent events – protests that scared the Supreme Court building, among others – which apparently served as a pretext for canceling the rally’s permission.
